In Kay Rudin's courtroom drawing, Bradley Manning appears as a diminutive man-boy, surrounded by stern, meaty military officers. Rudin, a coast artist and musician since 1969, has been covering the court martial in Washington, D.C., for ReaderSupportedNews, a virtual news service that delivers emails from a progressive perspective to more than 100,000 people, with updates several times daily.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday, with court adjourned this week. Rudin has a return ticket today that she is trying to change. She is trying to raise at least $500 to stay in DC. She said people who want to help can deposit money into her account at Fort Bragg Credit Union with the notation "for Manning trial." Although Rudin is one of those suing for access to the media center and a press credential, she works on paper, not the computer and isn't as dependent on the hookups as others.

"Actually, I have more freedom to the base than if I were credentialed!" Rudin said in an email. "The only access I am denied is to the media center (where laptops and cell phones are allowed). I brazenly walked in the other day to give Scott his ice water left in the car and seek out a PAO public affairs officer to request access to the jury box so I can draw the front of people."

"He is tiny. He's a Hobbit. He's literally the size of a 12-year-old. The tiniest little man is also the biggest in the room in several ways. So yeah, I guess this is what a hero looks like!" said Rudin. "Manning is surrounded by huge fullbacks who really hate him [because] he's also the smartest guy in the room."

Manning was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq, where he had been stationed since October 2009, after Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker in the United States, told the FBI that Manning had acknowledged passing classified material to the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks. The material was published widely, including in the New York Times and Guardian newspapers. Manning entered guilty pleas to 10 of 22 charges on Feb. 3. The trial is on the remaining 12 counts.

On July 15, Rudin, along with ReaderSupportedNews and two other RSN reporters, sued the government in federal court seeking press passes to cover the event. Most of the reporters are confined to an offsite trailer and video feed. Major media organizations have had their staffs taking turns with credentials. The Army received over 350 media applications for the trial, but granted just 70 media credentials.

The many restrictions on access, along with the lack of a transcript for the trial, has created a backlash from mainstream, conservative and progressive media. Media organizations from Fox to MSNBC and the Freedom of the Press Foundation banded together to help support the hiring of an experienced courtroom stenographer, but the judge would not grant an additional press pass. Finally, a Manning supporter surrendered a press pass to the stenographer.

Media groups recently lost a lawsuit designed to grant them the same access and records as in a trial in federal court.

Rudin and RSN's lawsuit asks a judge to issue them press passes and seeks an order to allow press access to videos now being made daily but available only to the attorneys involved.

RSN claims to be just one of two national organizations entirely denied press credentials.

"We found that most of the declined applicants were from organizations that got a credential. For example ABC might have requested 12 credentials, but got one that they can transfer among the 12," said Scott Galindez of RSN.

The trial began on June 3 and resumed last week. The RSN lawsuit seeks to allow access to a media center, where the size of the crowd of public and press has fallen way off from the beginning.

"None of this is really about the courtroom itself. There is a media center near the courthouse with a closed circuit TV feed. In that room the media has access to computers and the Internet during recesses," said Galindez.

"Without a credential we cannot work from the media center. We can go in the courtroom as a member of the public but don't have access to our computers or a telephone to contact our editors ?," he said.

Rudin is back in Washington covering the trial. She is seeking funding from locals to keep her coverage going. Rudin's local work has been varied, from playing in the Boonville Big Band to having made movies about Judi Bari.

"Among many professions that I have undertaken as an artist over the years, courtroom art has been a recurring calling since the 2001 Judi Bari vs the FBI lawsuit, Rudin said.

That trial resulted in a $4.4 million judgment against the FBI and the Oakland Police following the 1990 near fatal car bombing of Mendocino County forest activists, Bari and Darryl Cherney. That is where Rudin met William Simpich, one of Bari's lawyers, a key figure at RSN and now one suing the government along with Rudin and Galindez.

Courtroom drama and deadlines are something Rudin can only stand for very special trails.

"A few years back, while covering the rather infamous inquest of Cheryl Lynn Moore up in Eureka, I concluded that I probably lack the intestinal fortitude necessary to do this work on a regular basis," Rudin said.

Federal and military courts do not normally allow cameras, creating work for old-fashioned sketch artists.

"I have drawn one other military trial: The historic Lt. Ehren Watada Court Martial in 2007 at Fort Lewis," Rudin said.

Watada was the first commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces to refuse to deploy to Iraq, in June 2006. The court martial ended when the military judge declared a mistrial.

"My drawings were published by TruthOut.org news service, and are still online," said Rudin.

ReaderSupportedNews formed after a split with Truthout.org.

For those who think journalists must be neutral and objective, Rudin's approach may come as a shock. It's not hard to figure out whose side Rudin is on just ask her.

"I plan to publish a book of my courtroom art called "Amicus Journalist,' since most of my work has involved my friends' trials," she said.

Her drawings make Manning (or Bari) appear much more human than heroic. Her drawings convey fear, confusion and even uncertainty in those she considers friends and brave fighters for truth.

Media from all perspectives who are actually covering the trial have bashed other mainstream media for largely ignoring the case. Rudin has joined in this.

"The mainstream media has been systematically misdirected and overtly bamboozled by Judge Denise Lind's military court," Rudin said. "The Hon. Col. Mme. Lind wrote a treatise a few years back [about] how to bamboozle the media. She is masterful and as a result a large percentage of out-of-town and international press canceled their coverage of the opening week."

Lind is considered an expert on the news media in legal circles and has written law review articles on media rights, which the RSN-Rudin lawsuit quotes back to her in their case.

Rudin has been impressed by the work of Time Magazine and developed a friendship with the Associated Press sketch artist, watching him work. He is one of two sketch artists now allowed into the courtroom.

Rudin's drawing of Judge Lind showed an enigmatic figure, one Rudin still believes could have the courage to stand up to the Army. She is working this week at getting closer to the judge so she can show more of Lind.

At 66, Rudin is still a glamorous flower child who normally is happy to talk about the Peace and Love days and likes to chat for hours with those who have the time. But when on one of her missions she comes with ferocious determination and a forceful focus.

"Can we sort of shift the spotlight from Kay and her amazing hair to "this is an important story?' ... The comparison between Manning and the protests of the "60s is an interesting one, but it could be a distraction," Rudin said.

"A very serious, intensely intelligent and truly patriotic young man's life is at stake, here. Please don't spin this as another silly hippy story OK?"

Rudin can speak or write more frenetically than many people think, but always appear calm and relaxed.

Bradley Manning was awarded the 2013 Sean MacBride Peace Award on July 19 by the International Peace Bureau, itself a former recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, for which Manning is a nominee this year.

Has society lost its will to care about whistleblowers one way or another in the way Daniel Ellsberg charged society? Have the protest values of the "60s slipped away?

"Who said those "values' (which ones?) slipped away?," Rudin said. "Could you possibly mean that the deliberate corporate takeover of damn near everything and heavy-handed manipulation of world economics and freefall fascism that we seem to be dealing with these days has clobbered the ideals of personal freedom, cosmic revelation, and world peace and love? Hey, they just tossed us gay marriage and almost legal pot to distract us!"

Those wishing to contact or support Rudin can reach her at Kay Rudin, PO Box 113, Westport, CA 95488 or call 962-0547.